


Middle of the Night

by PeroxidePirate



Category: Tortall - Pierce
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-12
Updated: 2010-04-12
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeroxidePirate/pseuds/PeroxidePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Late at night, Owen knocks on the door to Kel's palace room because he's in need of a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Over the pattering of rain on the roof, the sound of knocking woke Kel from a sound sleep. She got out of bed carefully, trying not to dislodge her animals. Barefoot, sword in her hand, she made her way to the door and cautiously opened it.

In the hall outside her palace rooms was a solitary figure dressed in travel-worn clothing, with a waterlogged cloak clutched around his shoulders.

“Owen?”

“I'm sorry, Kel,” her friend said. “I didn't know where else to go. It's Margarry.”

“Is she all right?”

“Oh yes,” Owen answered, with certainty. “She's fine. But she's in bed with someone else.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Come in.” Kel moved around her front room, lighting candles and poking up the fire. She took Owen's wet cloak, hanging it on a hook near the hearth. “Now, sit down and tell me what happened.”

He shrugged, looking more miserable than Kel had ever seen him. “I was due back tomorrow. But I missed her so much, Kel. I rode hard, all day, just to get back tonight. And when I opened the door...”

Kel waited, patiently, until Owen was ready to continue.

“I could hear them,” he said, quietly. “I should have confronted them. I should have found out who he is. But all I wanted to do was leave.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kel bit back a sigh. It was past three a.m, and the whole palace was asleep. It was too late to find someone to assign guest quarters to Owen, and anyway, Kel didn't want him to be alone. “You'd better stay here tonight,” she said. “Wait a moment. I'll find you something dry to wear.”

“Thanks, Kel.” Owen leaned back in his chair, relaxing just a little. “You're a true friend.”

“Yes, I am,” Kel agreed, already heading for her dressing room. It wasn't the first time she had counseled a friend through his troubles with the opposite sex, and she was sure it woudn't be the last.


	4. Chapter 4

“The worst part,” Owen said, once he was clad in one of Kel's dressing gowns and sipping cider, “is that her father warned me this would happen.”

“What?” Kel asked, startled.

“Oh, he phrased it better than that,” Owen explained. “You know my lord. He said she was headstrong and boisterous and extremely friendly. I was in love with her, and I didn't think. I didn't even understand what he was getting at, until years later. By then, of course, it was too late.”

“So all this time..?”

“I don't know,” Owen said, sadly. “I always wanted to believe the best of her. I had reason to suspect, maybe, but no proof. Maybe I just didn't want to see it.”


	5. Chapter 5

Owen sat in the one chair before Kel's hearth, drying out. “Listen,” Kel said, coming to sit on the footstool in front of him, “I know you love Margarry, and I know this is hard for you. I can't imagine what you must be feeling. But Owen, it's the middle of the night. I think it might be best to sleep on it, for now. We can talk about it in the morning?”

“Of course. I didn't mean to bother you.”

“No, it's not that!” Kel said, quickly. She actually loved being the person her friends came to when they needed a listening ear or someone to solve a problem – especially when it was a friend she liked as much as she liked Owen. “Only, I don't think either of us can be counted on to make good decisions at this hour.”

“I have to decide whether to leave my wife,” Owen said. “But what decision do you have to make?”

“Whether to offer you a pallet on the floor, or space in my bed, tonight.”


	6. Chapter 6

“I should take the pallet, Kel,” Owen said, seriously. “Margarry and I might work things out, yet.”

“I told you it was too late for me to decide important things,” Kel answered, with a sheepish grin.

“What made you.... consider in the first place?”

She looked away, suddenly aware of how close together she and Owen were. “You told me Lord Wyldon tried to warn you away from Margarry, because even he didn't believe she would be faithful. And--” She looked up, meeting Owen's eyes again “-- you said, 'I was in love with her.' You didn't say 'I am.'”


	7. Chapter 7

“I didn't notice,” Owen said, “but maybe it's true. Maybe I'm not in love with her anymore.”

“It's not something you have to know tonight,” Kel said. “Why don't you take the bed, and I'll take the pallet? You're the one who's had the bad luck today...”

“It's your bed,” he countered. “And you'd have been sleeping peacefully in it, if I hadn't woken you up with a crisis.”

“You'll need sound sleep if you're going to be able to deal with the crisis tomorrow. So you get the bed.”

“Kel? Maybe we could share, after all. Maybe then we could both sleep soundly?”


	8. Chapter 8

The room wasn't silent: from the other side of the bed, Kel could hear Owen's steady, relaxed breathing. Between them, two dogs lay, one snoring and the other with her ears twitching as she dreamed. Outside, the rain continued to fall.

To Kel, it was the most peaceful thing she could imagine. Owen, in spite of his worries, had fallen asleep right away. Kel couldn't guess at his future: he and Margarry had a life together, and maybe he would wish to hang onto that. Maybe they would work things out.

At that moment, though, none of it mattered. He was sleeping beside Kel, and she was content.


End file.
